Hallomiteinander, dear Migros, where I have shopped several times a week since I went to school...

I find it a somewhat modest concept of customer service that Migros does not accept euros in coin form.

I experienced this today in a Migros branch in Aargau: an English-speaking man, apparently just visiting Switzerland, wanted to pay for his "Znüni" with two euro coins. The sales clerk only communicated with him in Swiss German (and none of the people around him bothered to speak to the man in another language either), telling him that he had to bring notes or return his purchase, although he made friendly gestures to indicate that he couldn't get out. If I hadn't jumped in and taken his euros and paid for him in CHF, he would have left the store hungry, with a lack of understanding and the impression of racism. Especially in cantons with national borders, there are many people who assume they can pay in euros and don't understand why there is a difference between paper and coins. I've often seen scenes like this, and not just in Migros. The fact that they may only get CHF back is more acceptable than simply being expelled from the country. There are also more and more people in these cantons who often shop in Germany and therefore carry around large stocks of euro coins.

Measures:

-Customer service counters have a certain change stock for euro coins and change them for CHF - can certainly be financed with a profit margin and slightly higher sales and through the advertising effect (Migros stands out from the competition)

or:
-all cash registers also accept euros in all forms and return euros or CHF depending on the stock level.

-Sales assistants must speak at least English or French and use it. Those who do not yet do so are trained by the Migros Club School (free course, but compulsory and participation in free time, for example).

You might argue that the national currency is CHF and that accepting notes is enough. Of course you can organize yourself if you know what to do. However, many people passing through do not and assume that Switzerland, which conducts the majority of its foreign trade with the EU and is also embedded in it via Schengen, accepts euros. Migros, which has its own bank and branches abroad, should be able to accept euros in any form with reasonable effort.

Written by a Swiss citizen and business economist who hopes that the proposal will be given serious consideration and that nationalistic feedback from criticism-shy fellow citizens ("if you don't like it, you can leave, you don't have to come..."), which has recently become fashionable, will not set the tone here.